Palnadu
Encyclopedia
Palnadu is the northern region of Guntur District
Guntur district
Guntur district is located in Andhra Pradesh along the east coast of Bay of Bengal. The district has a coastline of around 100 kilometers. Guntur City is the largest city in the district and administrative center of Guntur District. The district is a major center for learning.-Etymology:There are...

 in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

. Also known as Pallava Nadu, it occupies an important place in Telugu
Telugu people
The Telugu people or Telugu Prajalu are an ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali...

 history. After the decline of the Satavahana
Satavahana
The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward...

 dynasty, the Pallava
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...

s became independent in Krishna river
Krishna River
The Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...

 valley. The region is known as Palnadu in memory of ancient Pallava
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...

s. A series of dynasties such as Ikshvaku
Ikshvaku
Ikshvaku pāli: Okkāka) was the first king of the Ikshvaku dynasty and founder of the Solar Dynasty of Kshatriyas in Vedic civilization in ancient India.-In Hinduism:He is remembered in Hindu scriptures as a righteous and glorious king...

, Vishnukundina
Vishnukundina
The Vishnukundina Empire was an Indian imperial power controlling the Deccan, Orissa and parts of South India during the 5th and 6th centuries, carving land out from the Vakataka Empire. It played an important role in the history of the Deccan during the 5th and 6th centuries CE...

s, Eastern Chalukyas and later Kakatiya
Kakatiya
The Kakatiya dynasty was an Indian dynasty that ruled most parts of what is now Andhra Pradesh, India from 1083 CE to 1323 CE, with Orugallu , now Warangal , as its capital. Orugallu is also called 'Eka Sila Nagaram'...

s ruled the region. The war of Palnadu in the 12th century is marked in legend and literature as 'Andhra Kurukshetra War
Kurukshetra war
According to the Indian epic poem Mahābhārata, a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins of an Indo-Aryan kingdom called Kuru, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura resulted in the Kurukshetra War in which a number of ancient kingdoms participated as allies of...

'. The war of Palnadu weakened the power of Vengi
Vengi
The Vengi kingdom extended from the Godavari River in the north to Mount Mahendragiri in the southeast and to just south of the banks of River Krishna in the south of India. This area was part of Kalinga until that kingdom was conquered by Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire in the mid 3rd century...

 Chalukyas and paved way for the emergence of Kakatiya
Kakatiya
The Kakatiya dynasty was an Indian dynasty that ruled most parts of what is now Andhra Pradesh, India from 1083 CE to 1323 CE, with Orugallu , now Warangal , as its capital. Orugallu is also called 'Eka Sila Nagaram'...

s as a great Telugu
Telugu people
The Telugu people or Telugu Prajalu are an ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali...

 dynasty.

The battle of Palnadu

The battle of Palnadu (Palnati Yudham) was immortalized in Telugu literature by the poet Srinatha
Srinatha
Srinatha was a well-known 15th-century Telugu poet who popularised the Prabandha style of composition.-Biography:Srinatha was born to Bhimamba and Marayya in 1370....

 in his 'Palnati Vira Charita'. The only other scholarly book on the subject was written by Gene Roghair titled "Epic of Palnadu: Study and Translation of Palnati Virula Katha, a Telugu Oral Tradition from Andhra Pradesh". It was a battle between two factions of the Kalachuris (Haihaya).

Nalagama Vira Raju was the son of Alugu Bhupathi Raju of the Palanati Kalachuri
Kalachuri
Kalachuri Empire is this the name used by two kingdoms who had a succession of dynasties from the 10th-12th centuries, one ruling over areas in Central India and were called Chedi or Haihaya and the other southern Kalachuri who ruled over parts of Karnataka...

s. His step brother was Malideva Raju, who was married to a princess of the Kalyani branch of Kalachuris. Recherla Dodda Naidu and Recherla Brahma Naidu were vassals of the Velanti Chodas
Telugu Cholas
Many Telugu Choda kingdoms ruled over many regions including the cities on the banks of Krishna River in the period between the seventh and the thirteenth century. It is not known much about these family origins. Some of them claimed descent from the legendary Tamil Karikala Chola . Telugu Cholas...

 (Vassals of the Chola-Chalukyas and responsible for the administration of their Andhra territories) and tried to usher in a new era in which caste distinctions would be abolished. Nalagama was against this and tried to check their progress. He was supported by Nagamma, a Reddy female statesperson who became his chief adviser. The differences in ideology led to Brahma Naidu leaving with his supporters, including Nalagama's half brother Malideva and set up an independent court in Macherla
Macherla
Macherla is a town and a municipality in Guntur District in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the bank of Chandra Vanka.- Geography :Macherla is located at . It has an average elevation of 136 metres ....

.

Mutual suspicion and rivalry reached a high pitch between the two courts and Nagamma, under the pretext of Malideva's defeat in a cock-fight, exiled them for seven years from Palnadu. After the exile was over Brahma Naidu sent Alaraja, the son of Kalachuri Kommaraja of Kalyani, and the brother-in-law of Malideva to claim Malideva's share. The demand was turned down and Alaraja was poisoned to death under the orders of Nagamma in Cherlagudipadu. The enraged Kalyani Kalachuris and Brahma Naidu declared war on Gurazala
Gurazala
Gurazala is a semi town and mandal located in the northwestern parts of Guntur district. It is administrative hub of region Palnadu...

. The battle was fought in Karempudi on the banks of the river Naguleru. The Kakatiya dynasty, Kota Vamsa
Kota Vamsa
Kota Vamsa in Telugu means Fort Dynasty and is used to refer to the medieval dynasty which ruled over a small region of Andhra Pradesh with Dharanikota as their capital from around 8th century AD to the mid 12th century AD...

, Paricchedis and Hoysalas supported Nalagama and the Vengi Kalachuris
Vengi
The Vengi kingdom extended from the Godavari River in the north to Mount Mahendragiri in the southeast and to just south of the banks of River Krishna in the south of India. This area was part of Kalinga until that kingdom was conquered by Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire in the mid 3rd century...

. The Velanati Chodas
Velanati Chodas
Velanati Chodas were one of the Telugu Choda families who ruled over parts of the Andhra Pradesh in 12th century...

 and Malideva were supported by the Kalyani Kalachuris
Kalachuri
Kalachuri Empire is this the name used by two kingdoms who had a succession of dynasties from the 10th-12th centuries, one ruling over areas in Central India and were called Chedi or Haihaya and the other southern Kalachuri who ruled over parts of Karnataka...

.

The faction led by Brahma Naidu and Malideva was victorious. But Malideva died in the battle, so Brahma Naidu reinstated Nalagama. The civil war shook the Velanadu kingdom to its foundation. A whole generation of the warriors of Andhra perished in the war. The tragedy hastened the end of the Chalukyan rule in Vengi. It exposed their weaknesses and allowed the Hoysalas, Kalachuris, Eastern Gangas and the Kakatiyas to eventually overrun them.

The Andhra Abhimanyu

Brahma Naidu did not have any war could not be stopped, those who have to die will die and those who have to win will win. The child was named "Balachandra" and sent to forests with their men with strict instructions not to train the child in warfare.

After attaining marriageable age, Balachandra came back to his home. He always understood that his father cared more about the people than himself. Soon it was known that he was adept in warfare which he inherited from Brahma Naidu. The elders came to another plan to make him an alcoholic and to divert his attention from the political issues in the state, lest he challenges Nagamma's faction.

He was soon married off and at this time Ala Raja has been viciously killed by Nagamma's faction. Ala Raja’s wife Peramma, decided to kill herself on her husband's funeral pyre (Sati
Sati (practice)
For other uses, see Sati .Satī was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...

). Before dying she asked her brothers and other royal knights, that at least one of them should promise her to bring the head of the treacherous man who killed her husband. Everyone lowered their heads because Recherla Brahma Naidu had already warned them not make any oaths and make the issue bigger. Here, the heroic Balachandra took the oath. In front of everyone, he went to Peramma and told her that he is there to seek her vengeance. Peramma died on a happy note.

Everyone tried their best to stop Balachandra from the war. Because he was the apple of everyone's eye in Brahma Naidu’s household. But his wife sent him to the battlefield on their first night in order to ensure their victory. Balachandra fulfilled his oath and died heroically in the battlefield. He attained what is called in Sanskrit "Veeraswargam": The hero's heaven.

Andhra people remember Balachandra for his heroic exploits.

See also

  • Palanati Brahmanaidu (film), a 2003 Telugu film.
  • Palnati Yudham
    Palnati Yudham
    Palnati Yudham is a 1947 historical based on the battle of Palnadu. This film is directed by L. V. Prasad and Gudavalli Ramabramham. The film starring Govindarajula Subba Rao, Pasupuleti Kannamba and Akkineni Nageswara Rao.-Soundtrack:...

    , 1947 and 1966 Telugu films.
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